This is the home that retains on giving,” says rug designer Wendy Morrison, who lives in Dunbar, East Lothian, along with her household – and lurcher Eddie, in addition to some pet chickens and a cockerel, Napoleon – in a Georgian farmhouse. “It has stunning bones and was constructed with a number of thought and love, as Georgian homes are usually.”
Wendy and her husband Gregor, and sons Woody, 15, and Harvey, 12, initially rented the home from pals after transferring again to Scotland from France. “Once I first got here right here it was a very sunny day and, as I walked down the corridor, I keep in mind considering, this seems like residence,” she remembers.
“It has been prolonged through the years and it’s southwesterly going through in each side, which suggests there’s a number of gentle in every of the rooms at completely different occasions of the day. You possibly can truly comply with the sunshine round the home, beginning with the cosy within the morning and ending within the lounge,” she explains. “It has a very beautiful vibe to it and that lay-of-the-land configuration provides it a homely, heat feeling.”
It was this abundance of sunshine, the excessive ceilings and large rooms that additionally supplied Wendy with the clean canvas and pictures house for her rugs.
“I feel I’ve embellished the home consistent with what’ll go well with the type of the rooms. I really feel that the home has type of guided me by way of how it may be embellished. As a result of it’s so gentle, you will get away with sturdy, daring colors and patterns, which I’ve in a lot of the rooms. And there are all these fabulous authentic options – it was simply screaming out to be embellished after we purchased it.
“The wallpaper within the eating room was a very decadent buy. The decorator made me minimize all of it myself as he’d by no means handled that width of wallpaper earlier than. It’s known as Madidi, by Newton Paisley, and the designer, Susy Paisley, is a conservationist and she or he’s drawn all of the animals. They’re all endangered species, and her enterprise is about making an attempt to boost consciousness of that.”
The standout influences are wide-ranging chinoiserie designs, that are mirrored within the classic, vintage and reclaimed furnishings that all the time complement her rug designs. “My favorite chinoiserie items, just like the espresso desk within the lounge, are from a bit store in Edinburgh known as Aquarius Classic. It’s a favorite hang-out the place we frequently commerce our items, which is ideal.”
The furnishings and rugs in the home may be as fleeting because the sunshine that always pours within the home windows, with many gadgets being purchased, bought and moved round. Not solely does this course of assist preserve the rooms wanting contemporary, it provides Wendy the prospect to indicate off her newest creations. However there are some gadgets of furnishings which have stood the take a look at of time.
“There are some things that I’d not half with – a espresso desk, a small desk and a drinks cupboard, which is definitely a TV cupboard, however I’m nonetheless engaged on getting a TV sufficiently small to place in it,” she says.
“I’m all the time shopping for and promoting to maintain issues contemporary for my pictures. The eclectic leopard couch within the cosy is by an Instagram enterprise known as House of Sloane and the black couch within the lounge is by Loveyourhome – one other enterprise discovered on Instagram. And I even have a pal who works within the secondhand furnishings area. She is aware of what I like so she is going to cellphone me up and say, ‘I’ve seen this, would you like it?’, in order that’s helpful.”
Regardless of not having the ability to journey for work this yr, Wendy nonetheless discovered design inspiration at residence. “I all the time appear to have loads of concepts, however not sufficient time to get them on paper, what with home-schooling whereas working from residence.”
Whereas Wendy’s type is ever-evolving, the primary bones of the ornament – wallpaper, wall colors and some key gadgets of furnishings – are right here to remain. The one main change on the playing cards is doubtlessly transferring the kitchen into the eating room. Or maybe the household will transfer, as Wendy explains: “We do maybe must work on the kitchen, it’s the engine of the home in spite of everything. However I’m very reluctant to redecorate, our selections nonetheless make me smile. So maybe the time has come to discover a new place to type.”
It doesn’t matter what Wendy decides, one factor is for positive: her enduring type, inventive eye and confidence to go daring will gentle up any residence.
Supply: www.theguardian.com
